On Feb. 15, Stafford was the first officer to arrive on the scene of a report of a man carrying a rifle and firing shots in a residential area at 11th Street and Sipple Avenue in Hamilton.

"To me, it started out as a routine call," Stafford said. "To drive down the street that morning and see a guy standing there with a gun was a little bit of a shock but normally, for the most part, people do what we tell them," Stafford said.

Upon exiting his cruiser, Stafford came under fire from Brandon Keeler. Stafford was struck in the head by a bullet from Keeler's AK-47 rifle.

"He raised his rifle and he started to fire," Stafford said. "So I jumped behind a car and I heard a couple of rounds go off and a second later, it felt like I got hit in the head with a bat, right here, on the top of the head."

Stafford said it hurt for a few seconds, then the pain disappeared.

"I don't know what, adrenaline? Whatever it was but it just stopped hurting and all I felt was heat, warmth from the blooding running down my face," Stafford said.

Despite his wound, Stafford was able to take cover and return fire, eventually killing Keeler, 18.

Investigators determined later that Keeler was likely trying to be killed by officers.

"In addition to the rifle, he possessed over 200 rounds of ammunition and other weapons. Disregarding the threat to his own personal safety, police officer Stafford engaged this person and by his actions protected our citizens from an extremely violent individual that had the potential to inflict injury and death on a large number of people living in the area,” Chief Scott Scrimizzi said.

Stafford received a standing ovation from the crowd after receiving the award.

"I told the people of Hamilton 17 years ago that I would do what I did that day," Stafford said. "People have called me a hero and I don't like that term. I just did my job."

Stafford said he will hang the award on his wall but what he'd really like to come from his experience is a lesson.

"I want other officers to realize your life can go from my life's fine to I might died in less than a minute. My incident took less than 36 seconds," he said.